Technically, I was only getting ready for half a swamp hike! Me and my Dutch hiking friends try to have an autumn hike every year, but every year we run into trouble as some of us have less flexible working conditions than others. In autumn, we at Bangor University have a reading week, in which we don't teach, but that is never in the same week as autumn holidays in the Netherlands. One of my Dutch hiking friends also works in education. This year, it had been a bit of compromise; they would arrive in Britain on Wednesday morning, and I would join them on Thursday early evening. I had Thursday teaching I really couldn't move. But I had managed to keep the Friday clear.
I had a fair amount of teaching that week I needed to get through, and I was also behind because I had spent so much time on the dissertation module. I had been working evenings. And when I finally was caught up with the teaching, I needed to pack, of course.
We also had a little route planning meeting (which I attended online). We had agreed earlier on that we would try the Peak District. None of us had been there before, it was rumoured to be very beautiful, and it was quite conveniently located between the ferry port in Hull, and Bangor. And we knew it could get very busy, but we figured that in November, that wouldn't be a huge issue. So it sounded like a decent choice! But it is a rather large area; the first decision we had to make was whether we would do Dark Peak or White Peak, whatever that meant. But they have separate maps.
Given that we were starting out with two full-size double sided maps, it started a bit awkward. Additionally, I have a cat who thinks maps are cat toys. But in spite of all that we decided fairly soon to stick with Dark Peak. And have Edale as the meeting point. It is difficult to follow what someone is doing if they are looking at a map you can't see, but I think we made it work. The men would Park up at Snake Road, and spend a day and a half walking to Edale. There I would meet them, and then we would spend another day and a half walking back to Snake Road. Sorted.
Two evenings in advance I had already gathered a lot of the stuff I wanted to bring. And the day after I bought the last snacks. And having prepared was good, because the evening before I had a splitting headache and I was very tired. I went to bed early. And the next morning I needed to finalise the packing. There are always things you can only pack at the last minute because you still need them before you leave. And I didn't have bucketloads of time to spare, so it didn't go flawlessly, but I arrived for my teaching on time, and with my backpack ready in the boot of the car. With most things in it.
On the day I had a practical session, and I as soon as that would finish I would just jump into the car in my teaching outfit. I had my hiking clothes ready. And when I would get to Edale, where we would meet, I could just pitch my tent, change my clothes, and blend into this year's Swamp hike edition.
Luckily the forecast was very cloudy but not rainy. I still packed my best waterproofs, but hoped I wouldn't need them.
Things went as planned. The practical session ended at 3 pm. And six minutes later I texted the men I was on my way. Peak District, here I come!
No comments:
Post a Comment